I have not left you as orphans

Here's the sermon that I preached at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

In his poem Flood: Years of Solitude, Dionisio D. Martínez raises a glass:

“To the one who sets a second place at the table anyway.
To the one at the back of the empty bus.
To the ones who name each piece of stained glass projected on a white wall.
To anyone convinced that a monologue is a conversation with the past.
To the one who loses with the deck he marked.
To those who are destined to inherit the meek.
To us.”

Bob Dylan famously asked “How does it feel to be on your own?” and Martínez captures the experience perfectly in the opening lines of his poem by conjuring up for us “the one who sets a second place at the table anyway” and “the one at the back of the empty bus.”

Jesus spoke to his disciples about the fact that he would shortly leave them. Firstly, he was about to be killed and they would be left bereft as a result. Secondly, after his resurrection, he would ascend and return to God his Father. He would be gone, yet he would not leave them, and would not leave them orphaned. His discourse at the Last Supper is intended to show how those two seemingly contradictory things can both be true and how, as a result, they would not find themselves in the situation described by Martínez.

Jesus promised that, following his ascension, he would send his Spirit to be with his disciples and be in them (John 14:15-21). That is what happened on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is sent to act as a helper for them. The Greek word used is paracletos. There is more than one way of translating this – ‘comforter’ or ‘helper’ (providing whatever is needed to fulfil God’s plan), ‘advocate’ (one who will speak up for us), or ‘intercessor’ (one who will pray and mediate between us and God).

The Holy Spirit can be all of these things for us. Jesus has sent the Spirit to us and so we can ask for his comfort and help in our need, for his advocacy with God when we need to repent, and for the Spirit to give us the words to pray to God when we don’t know what to say. Jesus knew that life would be tough for the disciples after he returned to the Father, so he provided for them at their point of need and does the same for us too.

The Spirit is Jesus with us and in us forever, as well as the one who continues to reveal Jesus to us. As the disciples found after Pentecost, when we have the Spirit of Jesus in us and reminding us of all that Jesus did and said, we are increasingly able to live as Jesus did.

This is where Jesus’ words about his commandments come into play. Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’ and ‘They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me’. What are his commandments? When Jesus was asked to give his summary of the law, he said: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Then, at the last supper, he said: ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Therefore, his commandments are simply that we love; love God, love one another and love ourselves. And these commandments are taken up and repeated throughout the New Testament. In the first letter of John we read: “The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love his brother also.” (1 John 4: 21) Similarly, St Paul talks about obeying the law of Christ. How does he describe the law of Christ? “… the whole Law he says is summed up in one commandment: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’” He goes on to say that we obey the law of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens.

Christianity then has a simple core, which is love. It is not about a lengthy list of do’s and dont’s. It is not about a detailed set of laws covering each and every eventuality. It is not about rules and regulations. It is not about those things, but it is about love. At the heart of all the laws and commandments which the Bible contains there is love and if we are not loving in the way in which we understand and apply the laws and commandments found in the Old Testament then we work against the thing which is at their heart, which is their spirit, which is love.

When he summarised the law for the Pharisees, Jesus was saying that there are three loves; love of God, love of neighbours (by which he meant particularly those in need and those who are our enemies) and love of self. All three are legitimate but all three are not equal. The greatest commandment is to love God with all that we have and are. The second is to love ourselves and to love others in the same way that we love and accept ourselves. The second follows from the first because it is only in a love relationship with God that we are able to accept ourselves as we really are and therefore are able to accept and love others as we accept and love ourselves.

As ever, we see this lived out by Jesus. In John chapter 13 we read about the occasion on which Jesus demonstrated his service of his disciples by washing their feet. John tells us that: “Jesus knew that the Father had given him complete power; he knew that he had come from God and was going to God. So, he rose from the table … and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” It was because Jesus knew and accepted who he was that he was then able to love and serve his disciples. When we know that we are unconditionally loved by God then we are set free for the risk of loving others in the same way.

The particular kind of love that is at the heart of Jesus’ life and which is at the heart of the Bible is a love that serves. Jesus said: “The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.” Likewise, Paul says to the Galatians: “let love make you serve one another.”

This gives us another reason why we will not be alone although Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh. That is because he is also to be found in those we love and serve. St Martin of Tours followed in the footsteps of Jesus by getting off his horse and cutting his cloak in two to give half to a beggar shivering outside the gates of Amiens on a cold day. That night, Jesus appeared to Martin in a dream to say that Martin had clothed him. Martin met Jesus in the beggar to whom he gave his cloak and we, too, will meet Jesus in those we serve.

We are not left orphaned by Jesus because he gives us his Spirit within us, because his Spirit reminds us of all that he did and said so we can live in him and become like him and, when we do so by loving and serving others, we discover that Jesus also comes to us in the form of those we love and serve. In this way, we can be swept up in Jesus and surrounded by him; receiving his Spirit, living the Jesus life of love, and receiving him in those we love.

Gillian Welch sings a song called ‘Orphan Girl’ in which she is “an orphan on God’s highway” with “no mother no father / No sister no brother.” She prays:

“Blessed Savior make me willing
And walk beside me until I'm with them
Be my mother my father
My sister my brother”

That prayer comes true as we receive Jesus’ Spirit, the Advocate, who is given to be with us for ever. Amen.

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Gillian Welch - Orphan Girl.

Top Ten 2018

This is the music, in no particular order, that I've most enjoyed listening to in 2018:

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Wrong Creatures: "Darkness and despair resonate across Wrong Creatures, the new album by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, as it evokes death and an attitude confronting loss and its effects in life. Wrong Creatures takes on loss and pain with emotional depth and imaginative arrangements, documenting a dark attitude despite fear and despair growing across its deep tracks and musical explorations." (popMATTERS)

Robert Plant - Carry Fire: "With a title that evokes primal discovery and heroic burden, Carry Fire finds Plant nuancing the mystic stomp of yore for darkening times. “New World…” is a wearily surging “Immigrant Song” for the age of xenophobic travel bans; “Bones of Saints” surges with “Going to California” promise, then becomes an anthem against mass shootings. The overall feel is at once ancient and new, cutting Led Zeppelin III‘s Maypole majesty with the Velvet Underground’s careful guitar violence (see the “All Tomorrow’s Parties”-tinged “Dance With You Tonight”), and the patient power of Plant’s golden-god-in-winter singing can be astonishing." (Rolling Stone)

Joy Williams - Venus: "There is something spine-tinglingly thrilling about “Venus,” the fourth full-length solo album from Joy Williams, but the first since the 2014 demise of her Grammy-winning roots duo Civil Wars. You can actually hear the California native, a former contemporary Christian-pop singer, discover who she is as she moves through this unsparingly intimate, deeply moving 11-song cycle. If fans and critics argued about which genre the Civil Wars should be slotted into — folk? country? Americana? — the debate should be less confusing now that Williams has fully embraced her inner Kate Bush (and Peter Gabriel and Portishead), zooming into the present with an ambient sound that elegantly threads together folk authenticity, pop instincts, and trip-hop grooves. Whether standing inside her aching heart in the dramatic “Until the Levee,” letting it bleed on the haunting piano ballad “One Day I Will,” or offering up a breathtaking “What a Good Woman Does,” Williams is never less than truthful. The album closes with the poignant “Welcome Home,” cementing the sense that Williams has found her own." (Boston Globe)

Beth Rowley - Gota Fria: A Spanish weather term 'Gota Fría' struck Rowley as the perfect album title. It describes “long periods of the clouds breaking off and remaining stationary for weeks and then sudden violent clashes of warm and cold currents. I thought it was a beautiful name, and an awesome album title, because the meaning is so bold and a perfect image of my own journey.” A heady fusion of rock, blues and Americana 'Gota Fría' is a startling rebirth, with a confidence that belies that ten-year absence ... 'Howl at the Moon' and 'Only One Cloud', evoke the swarthy drama of Led Zeppelin while 'Brother' and 'Run to the Light' are ember-glowing ballads. 'Hide from Your Love' and 'Forest Fire' splice country-folk roots with the vibe and energy of the Bristol scene that gave birth to her voice while 'Get it Back' is equal parts rock and soul and 'Brave Face' nods to the '70s west coast sound." (Rough Trade)

Bob Dylan - More Blood, More Tracks: "Dylan is at the peak of his talents here and he captured lightning in a bottle with these songs. That’s the thing that really strikes me about this release: how damn fine these songs are ... In terms of the spare backing, it only serves to illustrate what an incredible artistic leap Dylan made here. There’s a reason why this material was considered a “comeback.” The early 70’s were an erratic muddle in terms of his output ... With this batch of songs, Dylan was inspired, focused and reinvigorated. Melodically and lyrically, this was a whole different level than he was operating on before. It’s the sound of an artist taking hold of the reins of his talents and digging his spurs in." (Soundblab)

Switchfoot - Where The Light Shines Through: "We sing because we’re alive. We sing because we’re broken. We sing because we refuse to believe that hatred is stronger than love. We sing because melodies begin where words fail. We sing because the wound is where the light shines through. We sing because hope deserves an anthem." (Jon Foreman)

Gavin Byars - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet: "The names of more than 165 homeless people who died in London in the past year, were read at the Annual Service of Commemoration at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square last Thursday. The church was packed with friends, family members, homeless charity workers and volunteers. Gavin Byars [and his group played] 'Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet' as the congregation was invited to come up one by one and take a prayer card with the name of one person who died." Byars' "anthem for the homeless" "began as a 26-second recording of a nameless rough sleeper." "What makes Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet such a lasting treasure is that, through it, a nameless old man continues to live, as vividly and stoically as one of Samuel Beckett’s homeless characters ... He is confirmation of Beckett’s understanding that “the tears of the world are a constant quality. For each one who begins to weep, someone somewhere else stops.”

Mavis Staples - If All I Was Is Black: "If All I Was Was Black is an album about American perspectives and the compassion it takes to see the world from someone else’s point of view. Tweedy understands that his songwriting credits might lead some listeners to think the album represents his perspective rather than Staples’. “I don’t think I put anything in Mavis’ mouth that she didn’t want to sing,” he told the L.A. Times. “Tweedy knows me,” was her response. A singer of remarkable power and expression, Staples essentially rewrites these songs simply by singing them, imbuing each line with fine gradients of emotion and authority. She emerges as the active agent in the project, delivering these songs from her perspective as a black woman, as an artist, as a daughter and sister, even as a Christian." (Pitchfork)

Gillian Welch - Boots No. 1: The Official Revival Bootleg: "As if blown down Broadway by a summer Appalachian wind, enveloped in a melancholic hue and wrapped in a dust-stained blanket, you’d be forgiven for thinking Gillian Welch comes from an earlier time – down from the hills to kickstart a roots revival. Yet, despite looking like she’d been lifted straight off a Gatlinburg porch, Welch arrived in Nashville from LA – Dave Rawlings, her partner, hails from Rhode Island – in search of some kind of rural spiritual awakening after time spent in goth and surf-guitar bands. It didn’t take long for the pair to make their mark and, with the release of their debut album Revival in 1996, start a musical partnership that still remains as strong, vital and nigh-on essential some 20 years later. Made up in essence of outtakes, demos, and alternate takes, Boots No.1 is a welcome twin-album celebration of one of Americana’s benchmark recordings. Producer T Bone Burnett’s trademark sound oozes from every pore, and there’s magic afoot from the off." (Country Music)


Michael McDermott - Out From Under: Since his debut album, 620 W. Surf back in 1991 (when he was tarred with the new Dylan curse), McDermott has released a further ten albums (this is his eleventh) as well as two with Heather as The Westies, the quality of his writing and delivery never dipping. For whatever reason, for two decades, they failed to connect with audiences and constant rejection caused him to question himself and led him into a self-destructive spiral. But then, already turning his life around, with 2016’s Willow Springs everything seemed to click, critically and commercially. The confidence may have faltered, but the talent never has and now, finally, they are aligned and, both personally and musically, he’s become the man he was always meant to be. As he sings on Never Goin’ Down Again, “For the first time it feels, I’m odds on to win.” I’ve placed my bet." (folk radio)

Previous Top Ten's can be found here - 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

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Gillian Welch - Old Time Religion.

Top 10 album listening during 2011 meme

Via Banksyboy, this is my Top 10 of albums that I've got hold of during 2011:

• Dead Rock West - Bright Morning Stars
• Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials
• Low - C'mon
• Robert Randolph and the Family Band - We Walk This Road
• Buddy Miller - Majestic Silver Strings
• Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
• Gungor - Beautiful Things
• Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest
• Peter Case - The Case Files
• Mojo presents - Communion

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Dead Rock West - God Help Me.

American Music

"Do you like American music?" the Violent Femmes asked on their fifth album, Why Do Birds Sing?. Well, do you? The Femmes answered in the affirmative - "We like all kinds of music but I like American music best, baby" - but the reason they gave seemed a pretty wierd one: "every time I look in that ugly lake it reminds me of me".

The idea of American music as a lake reflecting an ugly self isn't the only strange definition that's been given though. This is the picture of traditional American music conjured up by Bob Dylan in 1966: "Traditional music is based on hexagrams. It comes from legends, bibles, plagues, and it revolves around vegetables and death. ... All these songs about roses growing out of people's brains and lovers who are really geese and swans that turn into angels - they're not going to die. .... I mean, you'd think that the traditional music people could gather from their songs that mystery is a fact, a traditional fact ... In that music is the only true, valid death you can feel today off a record player. ... It has to do with a purity thing. I think its meaninglessness is holy."

Greil Marcus has pointed out that this 'traditional music' - the ancient ballads of mountain music, songs like Buell Kazee's East Virginia, Clarence Ashley's Coo Coo Bird or Dock Boggs' Country Blues - are what Dylan and the Band tapped into when recording The Basement Tapes, John Wesley Harding and The Band, music which Marcus describes as a "kaleidoscope of American music". "The "acceptance of death" that Dylan found in "traditional music"", says Marcus, "is simply a singer's insistence on mystery as inseparable from any honest understanding of what life is all about; it is the quiet terror of a man seeking salvation who stares into a void that stares back." Or a lake that reflects an ugly self?

But maybe that's only one half of the picture. Anything that comes from bibles and where swans turn into angels can't be all void and ugliness, can't be all bad. In 1985 Dylan expanded on the fundamental impact of the Bible on America and on his work: "... the Bible runs through all U.S. life, whether people know it or not. It's the founding book. The founding fathers' book anyway. People can't get away from it. You can't get away from it wherever you go. Those ideas were true then and they're true now. They're scriptural, spiritual laws. I guess people can read into that what they want. But if they're familiar with those concepts they'll probably find enough of them in my stuff. Because I always get back to that." Maybe what you get in traditional American music is that combination of sin and salvation that Peter Case said characterised his debut album.

Dylan maintained back in 1966 that this kind of American music was not going to die so where can we find it today? There are a loosely affiliated group of bands and songwriters - T.Bone Burnett, Peter Case, Mark Heard, The Innocence Mission, Maria McKee, Julie & Buddy Miller, Sixteen Horsepower, Violent Femmes, Gillian Welch, Jim White, Victoria Williams - for whom fear and threat, mystery and enamour - the twin poles of American music - again and again show up in their music and in relationships. The affiliations between these artists branch out in a way that cries out for a Rock Family Tree mapping production, songwriting and session credits together with personal relationships.

In this way too they take us back to Dylan, The Band, The Basement Tapes and Greil Marcus' surely incomplete statement that they show "the quiet terror of a man seeking salvation who stares into a void that stares back". The whole point about The Basement Tapes was that a bunch of mates sat around making the music they loved the way they loved it and when they liked. If Dylan was staring into a void then he wasn't doing it alone. And wasn't this true too of the music that they drew on, that it was more the music of a community than of individuals. We talk more about Appalachian traditions or the bluegrass Bristol area of Tennessee and East Carolina than we do about Dock Boggs or Clarence Ashley. A relational approach to work and life seems important to Williams, Burnett, Heard and the other musicians that share their musical vision and this is so although their relationships feature brokenness, pain and loss. Relationships and a community of music makers seem a vital part then of this tradition of American music.

So there we have it. Fear and threat on the one hand, mystery and enamour on the other - the twin poles of American music. Legends, bibles, plagues, vegetables and death, roses growing out of people's brains, lovers who are really geese and swans that turn into angels - they're all in the mix. These are songs of sin and salvation as sung by the wild, unshod, soot-covered orphans of God.

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16 Horsepower - Black Soul Choir.